Red Star Rogue : The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine’s Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S.

Red Star Rogue : The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine’s Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S.

by Kenneth Sewell, Clint Richmond

Sewell has written an interesting conjectural account of how a rogue faction in the former USSR’s government planned and executed an attempt to start a nuclear war between the US and China. The plan revolved around K-129, a Golf II-class ballistic missile sub. According to Sewell’s theory, the sub was seized after sailing by a crew of osnaz (KGB special forces troops); the osnaz then moved the sub to within about 400nm of Pearl Harbor and attempted to launch one of the sub’s 1MT warheads. The launch attempt triggered an anti-tampering device in the missile warhead; the resulting explosion and fire damaged the sub so severely that it sank with all hands.
Sewell cites lots of circumstancial evidence, and clearly he’s done a great deal of research. He lays out a fairly convincing case– at least as far as I read. His writing style is terribly repetitive, and I just couldn’t take it any more. For all I know, the hard proof is included somewhere after page 200 or so, but I guess I’ll never find out.